I'm a London-based freelance business journalist writing for the UK broadsheet press. I'm also the author of 'The New Rules of Business', a book revealing the secrets of a range of entrepreneurs, and founder of the news website Minutehack.com.
Titles I have written for include The Daily Telegraph, The Times, Raconteur Media, The Financial Times, The Guardian, Real Business Magazine, The Marketer and LaunchLab.co.uk - a title I launched in 2007, which went bust in 2010.
I like clever entrepreneurs who create useful things and give people jobs. I don't like businesses that make money at the expense of people without doing anything good; I'm sure you can think of a few.

How To Help Your Kids Think Like Entrepreneurs

Is it possible to give our children a career leg-up from an early age with carefully administered advice and support? If so, what the Dickens do we tell them – and how do we avoid screwing them up for good?

The global jobs market is a terrifying place. Young people leave education with stacked resumes, yet fulfilling work is hard to find. A common worry for parents is that their kids will drift into jobs they despise or, worse, fail to find work at all.

We’d all love to help the next generation understand the rules of business, give them a sense of independence and teach them the value of money. But where to draw the line? And at what age is it okay to start?

Start ‘em young

Peter Williams, founder of British clothing brand Jack Wills, says children should have mastered certain key elements of business by the time they reach their teens.

“The skills children should have by 13 are the confidence to put forward ideas, the enthusiasm to try their hardest to make things work and the maturity to learn why sometimes ideas are rejected and why sometimes they are accepted,” he tells Forbes.

Idea-generation and independent action are de facto two important traits shared by all successful entrepreneurs, as is the quality of being able to absorb knock-backs and start again with renewed vigour.

But what else? James Caan, the Dragons’ Den entrepreneur who made his millions in the UK recruitment industry, thinks parents can lay the groundwork for their kids without overtly dolling out ‘lessons in business’.

“What parents can do is encourage their children to think outside of the box; this doesn’t have to be business related,” he says. “It’s just about making them use their initiative to find solutions. This is what an entrepreneur does: find answers to a problem within the market.”

Should you know how to run a business when you’re 10 years old? Henry Patterson did.

Make it fun?

Independent thought, ideas and disguised business lessons; all good so far. But a question mark remains over how we deliver them. What kind of activities generate these qualities, and is it possible to make it fun?

Candice Olson co-founded iVillage in 1995, floated it on the NASDAQ in 1999 when it had 20 million monthly users, and the same day watched its share price quadruple. A small additional matter: she has seven children, in all making Mrs Olson well-qualified on the subjects of enterprise and kids.

Her tip is to give children first-hand experience of business by letting them observe your work. Personal experience of business, she says, beats lectures every time. Her 20 year-old daughter was at every step of her journey, from the concept drawn up on the dining room table to the day of the multi-million dollar IPO.

“She also remembers me sitting down to write page one of a book and the journey through to when it was available on the shelves of a bookstore for the first time. As a result, her ability to create is very advanced,” says Mrs Olson.

So what does she recommend parents focus on? “I would limit time in structured activities and in consumption. Whether they are coding or designing make sure they are creating as many hours a week as possible. If young people tap into our natural ability to create, they get so high on it they are hooked for life.”

Money matters

Being good with money is another important trait of most business leaders and Candice Olson has her kids on a tight leash when it comes to cash: “My daughter has been managing all of her own spending since she was 12,” she says.

In March, Manchester Business School held a competition inviting Year 10 students to manage a fund of shares and foreign currency by interpreting information and investing in markets. The team with the biggest bag of cash at the bell won the competition.

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